If I use an AL5D to play chess, is the motion repeatable, or will the accuracy drift off after some number of moves?
Hi,
Considering the simplicity of the components, the AL5D is surprisingly repeatable. The repeatability really depends on the servomotors themselves, which are actually quite good, too.
What really affects repeatability is the load placed on those servomotors. If you keep the payload (weight on the end effector; i.e.: at the gripper) quite light, you should be able to get good accuracy.
We’ve tested the arm with various payloads and the upper limit of precise motion was around 50-150 g (depending on how far from the base you are). You can go to higher payload (about double) but then the servomotors will heat up quickly (therefore need more breaks to cool down) and the accuracy is far lower as the payload increases.
With lighter load (such as typical small chess pieces) you should have no issue. If you perform a quick online search for something like “AL5D chess”, you can find plenty of example videos showing that this is quite possible and highly reliable. Of course, payload aside, most of that accuracy will depend on your control system you build around the AL5D to determine the positions and motions.
We hope this helps.
Sincerely,